Peter Speliopoulos, born in 1961 in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

, is an American fashion designer.

Life as a designer

Speliopoulos studied fashion at

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in New York and graduated with a BFA in 1981. Speliopoulos is best friends with fashion designer

Isaac Mizrahi Isaac Mizrahi (born October 14, 1961) is an American fashion designer, actor, singer, television presenter and chief designer of the Isaac Mizrahi brand for Xcel Brands. Based in New York City, he is best known for his eponymous fashion lines. M ...

who also attended Parsons. His first job as a fashion designer was as assistant stylist with

Laura Biagiotti Laura Biagiotti (; 4 August 1943 – 26 May 2017) was an Italian fashion designer, and the founder of the House of Biagiotti. Early life Biagiotti was born in Rome on 4 August 1943. Her mother Delia Soldaini Biagiotti was a successful dressm ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1982. He then worked briefly at the French couture house of

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

and later for New York sportswear designer Gloria Sachs whose label went out of business in 1992. In 1985, Speliopoulos was named creative director at

Carolyne Roehm Carolyne Roehm (born Jane Smith; May 7, 1951) is an American author, businesswoman, socialite, and former fashion designer. Early life Roehm was born Jane Smith in Kirksville, Missouri to a middle-class high school principal and a schoolteacher ...

Inc., a New York fashion house that had been created in 1984. He left in 1991 to become fashion director with

Joseph Abboud Joseph Abboud (born May 5, 1950) is an American menswear fashion designer and author. Early life and education Joseph Abboud was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The Abbouds were a working-class Lebanese Maronite Catholic family that started out ...

. From 1993 to 1997, Speliopoulos then worked as a designer for

Donna Karan Donna Karan ( ; born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as DK, is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life and education Karan was born to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabinow ...

in New York. He replaced

Narciso Rodriguez Narciso Jesus Rodriguez III (; born January 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer. Early life and education Rodriguez was born in Newark, New Jersey, the eldest child and only son of Cuban parents. His parents, Narciso Rodríguez Sanchez II, ...

as head of design for the women's collection at

Nino Cerruti Nino Cerruti (25 September 1930 – 15 January 2022) was an Italian businessman and stylist. He founded his own haute couture house, Cerruti 1881, in 1967 in Paris. He managed the Italian family business ''Lanificio Fratelli Cerruti'', which wa ...

in mid-1997. While at Cerruti, he gave the label a fresh modern look using fine detail and exquisite fabrics. He left Cerruti in 2002 to return to New York as

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

of Design for Donna Karan New York. He has stayed with

, a fashion house owned by the French

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding company and conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods and has its headquarters in Paris, France. The company was formed in 1987 through the ...

Group, since then. In 1998 he said that his time at

between 1993 and 1997 "was invaluable to me in getting to where I am now at Cerruti.

Speliopoulos has also worked as a costume designer for

Karole Armitage Karole Armitage (born March 3, 1954) is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is artistic director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary dance company that performs several times annually in New York City as ...

, a New York ballet dancer who owns her own dance company. In the summer of 2000, he designed the costumes for the

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Opera production of '' The Birds'' by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

. The collaboration with Armitage continued until 2003. He has also worked as a costume designer with the

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for which

was a choreographer. He says that he is always inspired by the construction of

Balenciaga Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...

, the essentialism of

Halston Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer, who rose to international fame in the 1970s. Halston's minimalist, clean designs, which were often made of cashmere or ...

and the genius of Yves St. Laurent. He tries to make his garments a mix of feminine sensuality and men's tailoring, creating versatility in a woman's wardrobe. Speliopoulos - together with his partner for more than 20 years, Robert Turner - is a Friends for Life Annual Fund donor at the

GMHC The GMHC (formerly Gay Men's Health Crisis) is a New York City–based Nonprofit organization, non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives ...

References

External links

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Picture of Peter SpeliopoulosKarole Armitage Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speliopoulos, Peter American people of Greek descent American fashion designers LGBTQ fashion designers Artists from Springfield, Massachusetts Living people Year of birth missing (living people)